WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Monday that striking Chicago teachers are turning their backs on thousands of students and that President Barack Obama is rooting for them. Obama’s top spokesman said the president has not taken sides but is urging both the teachers and the city to settle quickly.

Chicago’s mayor, Obama ally Rahm Emanuel, called Romney’s statement “lip service” as the contract dispute in the nation’s third-largest school system inserted itself into the hard-fought presidential campaign.

Hours before he was to arrive in Chicago to raise money for his campaign, Romney said in a statement that he chooses to “side with the parents and students depending on public schools to give them the skills to succeed.” He said he was “disappointed” with Chicago teachers, who walked off the job in the city’s first schools strike in 25 years.